Jakarta · School Rankings
Jakarta has over 150 international and national-plus schools. Most families only need to know about five. These are the schools that consistently rank at the top of the market - by academic outcomes, teaching quality, facilities, and the families who choose them. They are listed in order, with reasons.
Written by Mia Windsor Originally published: 24 February 2026 5 min read
Quick Comparison
| JIS | ISJ | BSJ | AIS | SPH LV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1951 | 2022 | 1974 | 1996 | 1993 |
| Students | 2,500+ | ~200 (targeting 500) | 1,400+ | 500+ | 1,000+ |
| Curriculum | American + IB DP + AP | English National Curriculum | ENC → IB MYP → IB DP | Australian + IB DP | IB (PYP, MYP, DP) |
| Year groups | Pre-K-Grade 12 | Age 2-Year 8 (expanding) | Age 2-Year 13 | Age 3-Year 12 | EC-Grade 12 |
| Location | South Jakarta (3 campuses) | Pondok Indah, South Jakarta | Bintaro, Tangerang Selatan | Pejaten, South Jakarta | Lippo Village, Tangerang |
| Ownership | Non-profit (Yayasan) | Non-profit (The Schools Trust) | Non-profit trust | Non-profit (AIJF) | Non-profit (YPPH) |
| Fee range | $17,341-$35,916 | $8,827-$28,809 | $8,919-$32,910 | $5,975-$26,308 | ~$6,900-$20,900 |
All fees are annual totals in USD, including capital levies where applicable. Exchange rate: IDR 16,826 = $1. See International School Fees in Jakarta for full year-by-year breakdowns.
1. JIS - Jakarta Intercultural School
JIS is the school most expat families in Jakarta end up at, and for good reason. Founded in 1951 as the Joint Embassy School, it runs across three campuses in South Jakarta - two elementary sites in Pattimura and Pondok Indah, and the middle/high school campus in Cilandak - covering over 46 acres combined. The facilities are among the best of any international school in Southeast Asia.
Over 2,500 students from 70-plus nationalities. An American-style curriculum with IB Diploma and AP as senior pathways. 261 teachers drawn from a dozen countries. WASC and CIS accredited, designated a US State Department-assisted school. The co-curricular programme is enormous - IASAS regional competition, TEDx, robotics, service programmes - and 99% of graduates go on to university, with recent cohorts placing at Stanford, Cornell, UBC and the University of Toronto.
JIS is a non-profit Yayasan. Fees are high - reaching $35,916 at high school - but the school is transparent about where the money goes and the reinvestment shows. If you are an expatriate family on a corporate package in South Jakarta, JIS is the benchmark against which everything else is measured.
Best for
- Expat families who want the most international, most resourced school in Jakarta with a guaranteed K-12 pathway and the broadest co-curricular programme.
2. ISJ - The Independent School of Jakarta
ISJ is modelled on a British independent prep school - the kind of school where every teacher knows every child, class sizes are capped, and the culture runs on confidence-building, character and pastoral care rather than scale.
Opened in 2022 and run by The Schools Trust - the group behind 16 British schools across Asia, Europe and South America since 2004 - ISJ brings a level of institutional pedigree that belies its age. The founding head came from Queen's College Prep in London. The current head came from Ipswich High School, an independent school on an 87-acre campus in Suffolk. ISJ sends its top year group to Ipswich High each year for a two-week residential. That link is active, not decorative.
Every teacher holds British teaching qualifications - a standard no other Jakarta school matches. Class sizes are capped at 15 in Early Years and 20 in Primary. The school follows the English National Curriculum from Pre-Nursery to Year 8, with a secondary campus planned for September 2028 taking students through to A-levels. ISJ is targeting 500 pupils - a scale educationists consider optimal.
Fees at primary are comparable to BSJ: ~$25,000-$27,600. The campus in Pondok Indah is purpose-built and compact - 10 minutes from Pondok Indah. The money goes to people, not property. For families who rank teacher quality and individual attention above campus size, ISJ is the strongest option in Jakarta.
Best for
- Families who value British independent school standards - qualified teachers, individual attention, structured pastoral care - and who want a school built by people with a track record of doing this well, in a convenient South Jakarta location.
3. BSJ - British School Jakarta
BSJ is the longest-established British school in Indonesia and the largest single-campus international school in Jakarta. Forty-five acres in Bintaro - Olympic-sized pool, 750-seat theatre, five football fields, a Manchester City coaching partnership, and 260-plus activities. If facilities are your priority, no other school in Jakarta comes close.
Founded in 1974, BSJ takes children from age 2 through to Year 13. Primary follows the English National Curriculum; secondary moves into IB MYP and the IB Diploma. That hybrid - British primary, IB secondary - means BSJ is less traditionally British than it once was. Students graduate with the IB Diploma, not A-levels. The school culture is British (uniforms, house system, assemblies), but the academic qualifications are international.
At 1,400-plus students from over 50 nationalities, BSJ is big enough for serious breadth. Fees are comparable to JIS - primary sits around $26,590, Sixth Form reaches $32,910. BSJ is a non-profit trust; five decades of reinvestment built what you see today.
The trade-off is geography. Bintaro is 25-40 minutes from South Jakarta - longer in rain or at school-run peaks. Most BSJ families live in Bintaro or accept the commute.
Best for
- Families who want a full K-13 pathway with unmatched campus and co-curricular scale - and who are willing to live in or commute to Bintaro.
4. AIS - Australian Independent School Jakarta
AIS is the school that often gets overlooked in the JIS-BSJ-ISJ conversation. It deserves a closer look. Founded in 1996, it sits in Pejaten, South Jakarta - a central location that avoids the Bintaro commute - and takes children from age 3 through to Year 12 on an Australian calendar (January-December, not August-June).
AIS follows an Australian curriculum through primary, transitioning to the IB Diploma in Years 11-12. The school has a reputation for strong pastoral care - parents describe a supportive, less pressured environment than some of the larger schools. At around 500 students, AIS is big enough to run a proper secondary programme but not so large that children disappear.
Fees run from $5,975 at Preschool (3-day) to $26,308 at Years 11-12, including a compulsory annual capital levy. AIS is a non-profit, governed by the Australian Independent Jakarta Foundation. The school holds CIS accreditation and is authorised for the IB Diploma.
Two things to flag: AIS charges a separate EAL surcharge for students requiring English language support (~IDR 34 million at primary level), and a separate Learning Support fee that can add significantly to the total. Ask admissions for the full picture before committing.
Best for
- Australian and New Zealand families, or any family that wants a strong IB Diploma pathway with good pastoral care in a mid-sized, less intense environment - at a lower price point than JIS or BSJ.
5. SPH Lippo Village - Sekolah Pelita Harapan
SPH is the school that Indonesian families with means choose when they want an international education with Christian values. It does not feature in most expat conversations - the student body is primarily Indonesian, the flagship campus is in Lippo Village (Tangerang, west of Jakarta), and the school's Christian identity is central to everything it does. But the academic credentials are strong enough to earn a place on this list.
Founded in 1993 by the Lippo Group's Johannes Oentoro and James Riady, SPH Lippo Village was the first school in Indonesia to offer all three IB programmes - PYP, MYP and DP - from Kindergarten through Grade 12. The campus spans 10 hectares with an Olympic-sized pool, full-size football pitch, science labs and a performing arts centre. IB Diploma results are consistently above the world average. The school is a non-profit, run by Yayasan Pendidikan Pelita Harapan (YPPH).
What makes SPH worth knowing about - even for expat families - is the fee-to-quality ratio. Annual tuition ranges from approximately $6,900 to $20,900 including the development fee. That is roughly half what JIS or BSJ charge at equivalent year groups. Teachers must pass a faith interview (committed Protestant Christians), which filters for a specific kind of educator - but the academic outcomes speak for themselves.
SPH also operates a Kemang Village campus in South Jakarta (ages 3-18) for families who cannot make the Lippo Village commute. Fees and culture at Kemang Village differ from the flagship - ask admissions about the specific campus that interests you.
Best for
- Indonesian families (or long-term residents) who want a three-programme IB pathway with strong results and Christian values - at roughly half the price of Jakarta's top-tier expat schools.
- Expat families open to a primarily Indonesian community should take a look, particularly at the Kemang Village campus.
Quick Knowledge Check
1. Which school has the largest campus in this comparison? a) JIS b) SPH Lippo Village c) BSJ ✓ d) AIS BSJ's 45-acre single campus in Bintaro is the largest. JIS has over 46 acres but spread across three separate campuses. SPH Lippo Village has 10 hectares (about 25 acres).
2. Which school requires every teacher to hold British teaching qualifications? a) BSJ b) JIS c) AIS d) ISJ ✓ ISJ is the only school in Jakarta where 100% of teaching staff hold British teaching qualifications.
3. Which school was the first in Indonesia to offer all three IB programmes? a) JIS b) BSJ c) SPH Lippo Village ✓ d) AIS SPH Lippo Village became the first school in Indonesia to run all three IB programmes (PYP, MYP, DP) across all grade levels.
4. Which school charges the highest fees at the senior/sixth form level? a) ISJ b) JIS ✓ c) BSJ d) AIS BSJ's Sixth Form (Year 12-13) reaches ~$32,910 per year. JIS High School is higher at $35,916.
How We Ranked These Schools
This is an editorial ranking, not a statistical model. We assessed Jakarta's international schools across five factors: academic outcomes (published IB/exam results and university placements where available), teaching quality (staff qualifications, recruitment standards, retention), facilities and campus, breadth of co-curricular provision, and institutional stability (governance, accreditation, track record). Fee level was noted but did not determine placement - this is a quality ranking, not a value ranking.
Three of the five schools are non-profits. All five hold recognised international accreditation (IB authorisation, CIS, WASC, Cambridge or BSO). We excluded schools where reliable outcomes data was not available and schools that are too new to have a meaningful track record - with the exception of ISJ, whose parent organisation (The Schools Trust) has a 20-year record across 16 schools.
For a broader look at the full market, see our Best International Schools in Jakarta guide. For schools ranked by value relative to fees, see Best Value International Schools in Jakarta.